


Justice

by Blacknovelist



Series: dawn comes [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XV, Pyre (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Gen, crossover AU, i told y'all not to hold ur breaths and look. here I am
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:20:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22063201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blacknovelist/pseuds/Blacknovelist
Summary: Corruption runs deepest of all in the hearts of those who love their land.
Relationships: Noctis Lucis Caelum & Ignis Scientia
Series: dawn comes [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1588000
Kudos: 4





	Justice

**Author's Note:**

> Last post of 2019!!! Woo!!! This was written around the same time as And The Night Turns, though it's been lightly revised and edited in light of a semester of short fiction classes, haha.   
> Slightly less pyre-blind-friendly, but that's in part cause no other bits of the series exist, I'm afraid. I hope you can enjoy it nonetheless.

The steel chills Ignis’ skin, even through the fabric of his pants. Noctis grasps at his coat and tries to repress the shudders of pain whenever he forgets his wounds and tries to leave Ignis’ grip behind. No crowds gather to witness this trial. By the time the sun rises, this farce of justice will never have happened at all.

_“Mercy is the beating heart of our splendid, glorious kingdom. Mercy enough, even for the foulest of the foul, the most wicked among wicked, the weeds among the brightest blooms.”_

The voice of the councilman echoes in his mind, warbles clear like a gong chime for just a moment before it wavers into nothing. Ignis can see it, the moment the words reach Noctis’ ears. The tightness in his eyes, the scrunch of his little nose, how his head tilts ever so slightly. His gaze passes over the few people gathered as though the answers he wants might be found in their faces. 

This pre-dawn morning marks the first time Noctis has been out of his room since the attack, and the boy knows his innocence. Ignis, too, bears no sin in the eyes of the land's laws. Every hollow transgression read out to them justifies nothing.

But the council does not care. The council thinks only of King Regis’ inheritance, believes only that a crippled prince cannot be king, hopes only that banishment might either consume or make stronger the children they now choose to damn, and that their calls unto compassion will cleanse their hands of the blood that spills. 

For the glory of Lucis. In the quiet part of Ignis’ heart, something burns and roils.

_“Just as weeds might find their way into the cracks and corners, so too does treachery find its place where it may. But like weeds, treachery may be… expelled, once discovered. And so, to those who seek to usurp the peace we here maintain, we swear -- never again will you be welcome here as you are.”_

Stars wink out as the horizon lightens. The River Sclorian bellows beneath them, its waters a deep oily black. Ignis curls further over his prince, ignores the halfhearted complaints and stares, bold, into the eyes of what few witnesses there are. He does not blink when they meet his gaze, and he feels no satisfaction when, as one, they look away.

_"As mercy guides us, we spare your lives and rid ourselves of you. Begone to the distant lands beneath our own, suited to those of your kind. May you live out your days in penitence and assume the terrible forms befitting your thoughts and deeds, so you might finally see yourselves for what you truly are."_

The cage shudders. Noctis’ fingers cinch tighter. From the depths of his soul, in the last beat of solid ground in this land of sun and freedom, Ignis curses the council. May this moment -- the condemnation of children, the future -- haunt them forever. 

And then they fall, both of them in their prison, caught in nothingness. Ignis takes a deep breath, stares one last time into the Lucian sky, and closes his eyes.

When he opens them again Noctis’ black spikes greet him, untouched by river water. Faded dark-blue sky peers through the brambles and branches he'd hidden their shelter beneath the night previous. When Ignis flings an arm behind him, what few things they own meet his palm.

He woke out of a habit for early mornings, then. More sleep won’t come after such a dream, Ignis knows, even if he aches and drowses and tries as hard as he can. The safe option would be to wake Noctis up and spend the day searching for supplies and shelter. Make sure they have time to ensure tomorrow is still an option for them both, in this land of exile and uncertainty.

Ignis settles back down beside his prince, instead, and listens to him breathe, until the sun slips into his eyes. 


End file.
